The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks
by grace.em
Summary: Ginny begins to reminisce about the love she held for a young Harry Potter, and how it stayed even after everything. Hermoine and Ron are woven heavily into the story. Lots o' fluff


_Harry Potter. A name known by all of the wizarding world. Particularly the females, old and young. From the moment that girls had begun to hear about his tragic story, his survival, they wanted to date him. They all dreamed of a perfect marriage with perfect kids in a perfect house. A young Ginny Weasley was no different._

_Having survived a gruesome attack at a young age, and in the process forming the only weapon that could defeat the dark lord, well, you could say it put him at the top of the lists of potential candidates for young women. However, her feelings towards the young Potter boy were simply unhealthy, _planning a wedding, naming their children, kissing her pillow when no one was around? That was a little over the top._ Yet, no matter how irrational the the liking she had taken to him was, she still became inseparable to the idea that they would eventually be married._ About the age of nine she had buried her obsession with the idea of becoming the Ginny Potter, she had even stopped practicing her future signature. Well, until she got the good news, that is_. A ten year old Ginny Weasley had heard that she was only a year away from going to the same school as Harry Potter; and with such news came the arrival of planning. Every detail of how to  
><em>_'accidentally'__ bump into him in the hall was planned. She had even considered the potential of a love potion._

A slightly older Ginny sat pondering her childhood crush, and no matter how silly she had been as a little girl, she was happy now. Taking another sip of her tea, she sat on her mother's sofa watching Ron chase Hermione around the room attempting to tickle her. Hermione ran in loops around couches and chairs, empty threats being tossed over her shoulder.

_Eleven years old she was, Ginny Weasley, excited for her first year of Hogwarts. Having kept her fascination with Harry Potter under wraps for several years now, she skipped down the stairs paying no attention to where she was walking. The fact that she had had these steps memorized for about eight years now, considered._

_Ginny knew she slipped up every once and awhile in the subject of Harry Potter, Ron would mention his name and she would flush. Fred and George skipped around singing something about Potter The Great, and she would giggle at the thought of him. But she was determined to keep her feelings a secret, since she feared teasing at school as well as at home. She was walking around the corner of the stairs to ask her mother a question, when she saw him. The man of her dreams himself, in the flesh, sitting at the breakfast table. _Her_ breakfast table. She swallowed nervously and decided that she had to act normal or she might tip them off. Her family couldn't know of her love for the messy haired boy._

Ginny heard a scream and she snapped her head up and reached for her wand upon instinct, scanning the room she relaxed when she saw Ron on top of Hermione; they were laying on the floor, so she suspected he had tackled her. "Ronald, get off of me." Hermione squealed. Ron simply laughed gently, keeping his weight on he elbows he moved his hand to brush several stray hairs that had fallen in front of her eyes during the fall. "I mean it, Ronald Weasley. Off."

Chuckling to her self Ginny spoke up with secret information, "He likes it when you call him Ronald, it only encourages him." Ginny smiled triumphantly as Ron shot her a glare, but he dropped all trace of anger when he saw his fiancé blushing beneath him.

"Ron, get off of me or... Or..." She said calmly, all the while staring at his chest.

"Or what Mrs. Weasley?" Ginny saw Hermione stuttering nervously, a blush still generously painting her cheeks. Glancing up to her right, Ginny saw George pretend to vomit into his hands, and then walk away, muttering under his breath. Ginny chuckled into her nearing empty cup of tea. She heard Hermione going on about how she wasn't a Weasley yet, and how she was still just _Ms._ Granger, but still her thought changed to a smiling raven haired boy in ill fitting clothes at her breakfast table.

_After standing stalk still for longer than could be deemed natural or simply brushed off with explination, she looked down to see herself clad in pink pajamas. She felt heat running up her neck and onto her cheeks, she looked up and met eye contact with her future husband. Shocked, she turned on her heel and squeaked what she had meant to be excuse me but sounded more like she was being strangled, and ran all the way back up the stairs and into her room. She slammed the door and smacked her face into her pillow. Breathing in a deep breath, she started her brain on the track of damage control._

"Come on Hermione, get angry, you look adorable when you're angry." Ron whined in a tone that could have been taken for mocking, and was met with his wish. Hermione shoved him off of her and stormed around to the other side of the couch, only to have her arm grabbed by Ron, she spun around ready to explode. "That sure is a hurricane of adorable…" George muttered from behind Ginny, she glanced up and him and smirked. Letting her gaze fall back to the couple in front of them, she began to miss her own significant other, but let her thoughts run to Potter again. What else was new?

_Even after he had saved her from he-who-must-not-be-named himself, and Tom Riddle had told Harry all about her crush, and how vulnerable she could be, she still refused to admit out loud that she liked Harry Potter, maybe even loved. Fred and George teased her constantly but she refused to respond, for when she did, she would deny it. And they would begin to harmonize in a sing-song tone. "The lady doth protest too much, Methinks."_

_Ginny remembered the stabbing pain she felt when she realized he had taken interest in a girl like it was just yesterday, Cho, she thought her name was... Ginny was oddly glad it didn't work out. Well, maybe not _so_ oddly._

"Adorable?" Hermione yelled at him, "Ronal.. Ron," She corrected herself, "I am not, by any means, adorable when I am angry."

Ron laughed, "Yes dear, you are. But it's the passion behind the anger I find adorable, not just you. But a bit more on the sexy side than adorable if I'm honest." He finished with a wink. Hermione turned a deeper color of scarlet at his comment. Ginny heard George gagging and felt something on her head, after a brief moment of panic she realized he had perfected his puking confetti potion that he and Fred had been working on before… Well, just before.

She shook her head and watched at the confetti began to fade away. Confused she looked to George for an explanation, shrugging his shoulders he said, "Fred said it should disappear after we've had our fun, so mum doesn't get _too_ angry. He _was_ the brains of the operation..." He trailed off knowing that the was could be taken in more ways than one and with another shrug of his shoulders he left. She looked back down to her lap and let her thoughts wander once again.

_Then, for a glorious period of time all of her dreams had come true. She was finally dating _The_ Harry Potter. The love of her life, the focus of her dreams. Every wish she had ever made involved him, he was, to put it simply, everything._

_She also remembered the pain of losing him to the defeat of the Dark Lord. He would throw himself into training, studying; and he ended up, more times than not, ignoring her. She knew he wasn't doing it on purpose, but it still hurt. To wait your entire life for something, finally get it in your grips and then have it ripped away, by someone who'd already ruined your life once before. She knew now that he broke it off with her, not for a lack of feelings, but because of obligations.  
><em>

Hermione shook her head in false anger as Ron kissed her nose lightly; she walked over to another well used couch in the room, and sat down. Ron sat down next to her and handed her the book she had been reading before Ron had threatened to tickle her. She snuggled up next to him, flipped it open and began to search for the page she had been on. Ginny glanced up to see George was gone, Hermione reading without cease, and Ron staring at the love of his life like he haven't a care in the world. So she was safe to zone out again without suspicion.

_Seeing Harry again at Hogwarts after all that time, she... had so many emotions coursing through her veins. Surprise, hurt, anger, sadness, relief, love, joy, and then more hurt. But she pulled through the pain, _again_, only to see him being carried limply by Hagrid. He was dead, she just knew it. She had heard screaming that everyone later identified as her own. Falling to her knees, she sobbed, for lost time, a romance that never was, and unspoken words. Most of all, she sobbed for Harry and all the things he wouldn't get to do. He wouldn't get married, have kids. He wouldn't get the chance to see his children off the Hogwarts. He wouldn't ever truly be a part of a real family. She wished more than anything she could have been the one that gave those things to him. But because she loved him, and part of love was putting the one you love before yourself, she would have let Cho have him, if it would have made him happy._

Ginny felt a feather light kiss being placed just below her right ear. He took a deep breath, as if to memorize her scent. Ginny turned to her right and kissed him on the lips, a gentle kiss. A kiss that shared everything they both had yet to say. He smiled lazily and walked around the sofa to sit next to her, and looked up to see Ron and Hermione snuggled up together across from them. Once he was settled Ginny did the same, only more cautiously, because they were still _just_ dating. He welcomed her warmth greedily. "Welcome back." She whispered as he kissed the top of her head. "Yeah, Sorry I had to run off so abruptly, official business." He said in a tone that mocked his boss. "I don't mind." She said quietly, a small smile gracing her lips. He nodded and laid his head on top of hers, allowing himself a moment to rest.

_Even after everything that had happened with Harry, she couldn't bring herself to love him any less. He had ignored her, dated her, ignored her again, abandoned her, found her, died and left her, came back, and here she was at the present; it had all turned out alright. She still loved him as much as she did the first moment his eyes had found hers. And maybe everything turned out for the better, maybe everything that happened, happened for a reason. Nevertheless, here she was._

"What's plaguing your thoughts?" He asked her gently.

"What's plaguing yours?" Ginny asked in a challenging way.

"You, work." He whispered, trying not to disturb the tender moment in progress across the room from them, between the other couple in the room.

She hummed slightly, "So I come first now? Huh…" He nodded numbly, looking more than a little hurt.

"You always came first, from the moment I saw you laying on the ground in the Chamber of Secrets, I abandoned all thought of my life, and my safety and focused it on you." Ginny sighed and looked up into his eyes, all she saw was honesty and love.

"You." She answered glancing to see her brother and his fiancé laughing quietly to themselves.

Sighing as well he looked over to see his two best friends enjoying themselves and said, "Can't believe it took 'em this long to figure it out." Harry said with resignation.

"Yeah, you'd think they would have noticed that they loved each other, everyone else knew. It was practically buzzing in the air around them." There was a touch to Ginny's voice that suggested she wasn't just speaking of the two enjoying a private moment to themselves.

Harry laughed silently, "They just denied it for so long, I think it was hard to admit. Even to themselves." Ginny nodded and thought back to what Fred and George used to say to her, _"_The lady doth protest too much.._."_

Smiling she took a deep breath, "The couple doth protest too much, Methinks." She said to herself.

"Ginny." Harry said in a low voice.

She looked up at him expectantly, "Hmmm?"

He looked nervous, "You really did always come first in my mind, even if it didn't always show. I…I-I love you. I always have." Ginny breathed in a small breath, she had been waiting nine years for Harry Potter to tell her that, and she couldn't breath, let alone say it back. After several moments of a pause his eyes began to dart nervously around the room, seemingly avoiding her gaze. "Say something, Ginny…. Please. Say something."

She let out a small laugh that soothed his doubts, "I love you too, Harry." He nodded confidently, and seemed to smile more and more, as time went by.

"Oy! 'arry, when'd you get 'ere?" Ron asked when he finally looked up from staring at Hermione.

"About eight years ago." Ginny whispered continuing to stare at Harry, they smiled as if an inside joke had been passed between them. Harry knew what she meant; she was referring to her eleventh year.

Harry continued to smile, but glanced up to look at Ron, "A couple of minutes ago."

_So this is how it ends, or begins really._


End file.
